Month: February 2018

Getting breakfast at Kate’s is very different than at home.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

After breakfast we were off to Beacon Rock State Park.    Beacon Rock is on the Washington side of the Columbia River.   It is a monolith which means it is one solid rock like El Capitan in Yosemite.  It is 848 feet high.  Switchback trails were built to climb to the top from  1915 through 1918.  It became a State Park in 1935.

The forecast was for rain intermittently most of the day so we dressed accordingly.  Frank and I had our hiking poles so we were prepared, although the switchbacks did have railings.

After our hike we headed to Stevenson to the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center.   It is a museum showing the early inhabitants of the Gorge and the natural history through photos and displays.  There was a Big Fish Wheel on display that showed how salmon were caught  until it was banned. We also watched a video explaining  the geological formation of  the Columbia Gorge.  Since it was pouring while we were in the museum it turned out to be a very wise way to spend some time.

We ate at a brewery in Stevenson then headed back to Vancouver, Washington which is where Kate works.  Her company is Nautilus,  the manufacturer of exercise equipment.  She works as an engineer in their testing department.    If a machine is new,  her team checks  it to make sure it is durable and troubleshoots  problems with equipment.    Her shop reminded me of Science Olympiad on steroids; right up Kate’s alley, and she’s getting paid for it!

 Our next stop was the Farm Supply store.  Kate and Dan want more eggs.  Solution – get more chickens.   To make a long story short, Kate picked out three adorable little peeps and brought them home.  I am happy to report they are adjusting nicely under a heat lamp and Scarfy and Freddy are not the least bit interested in them.  I must say they sure can peep loudly!   

Later in the afternoon  Kate and I went  to the Goodwill Store to get the Oregon puzzle.   Fortunately it was still there.  So guess how we spent our Saturday night?

From Beacon Rock to puzzle making, we sure did a lot today!    Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow.   And to think I was hoping to escape snow  with our trip to Portland!

On Thursday, Feb. 15th Frank and I took an 8:30 flight from Philadelphia to Minneapolis, then a second flight on to Portland.   Arriving around 1:00 pm Portland time, we had some lunch at the airport.  Since Kate and her boyfriend Dan were both at work, I knew we had to get our own ride to her house.  Using my newly downloaded Uber app, I put in Kate’s address.   Up popped two cars that were near the airport.  Selecting Alfredo and his Hyundai  Accent we waited.  Sure enough in about three minutes time a Hyundai Accent pulled up.   Yep, it was Alfredo.  He was quite a conversationalist and in no time at all we arrived our daughter Kate’s house in North Portland.

When we entered her house, we were greeted warmly by Kate’s  two cats, Scarfy and Freddy.   Before long both Dan and then Kate came home.   That evening Kate and Dan made chicken fajitas for us.  Our meal ended with freshly baked slices of pineapple upside down cake with a pineapple curd that Kate made to celebrate Dan’s Valentine’s Day birthday.

During the night, I work up to a lot of flashing lights in front of Kate’s house.   I was so tired that I just rolled over and went back to sleep.  In the morning,  we learned  that the flashing lights were fire engines!    The house behind Kate’s had burned. Unfortunately, the woman of the household did not survive.   I can’t believe both Frank and I slept through all of this excitement right in the backyard!

 

On Friday, both Kate and Dan went to work again.   After fixing our breakfasts, I went to a nearby public pool for an aqua aerobics class at 9.   It was the first time I had even tried this kind of activity, but found that it was a lot of fun.  I am sure that I did not get many of the moves correct, but everyone was very helpful and it certainly did get me moving.

On the way to and from the pool, I was amazed at the flowers that were in bloom.  Spring definitely has sprung here in Portland.

After I returned from my swimming class and cleaned up, Frank and I headed out for lunch at an Arby’s a few streets away.  After lunch, we went shopping in a Goodwill Store.     We purchased a Rummikub  game but decided against  a 1,000 piece puzzle of Oregon’s map because of limited space in Kate’s kitchen area.

We went out for supper.  Going past the St. John’s bridge, we stopped at Cathedral Park which is a park under the bridge over the Willamette River.   We then went to a German brewery for supper in St. John’s.   Frank had a Wurst Trio and I had a pork schnitzel.

Both Frank and I were quite tired, but we still managed to play a rousing game of Rummikub to finish our day!    It indeed  proved to be a great gift.  I won!